New in...

and so far I'm loving everything!

#houseofeldridge

I've recently become a fan of makeup artist Lisa Eldridge. She has a Youtube channel that is really popular among make-up fans but her philosofy is completly different from all those beauty youtubers outhere, problably because she's a professional and an artist in the true sense of the word. She truly loves make-up, she's an avid collector of vintage make-up products and her signature look is the fresh and flawless effect. 

Check out some of her videos so that you can see her apply microscopic amounts of products and achieve a natural "you but much better" look, it's almost magic. 

Lisa has a new book that will soon live in my house. 

x

Shameless

This little egg shaped sponge is a shameless purchase I've made this week. I'm still processing the money I spent on this Beauty Blender. It's an obsession that came from watching far too many beauty vlogs but the truth is that this little sponge is as good as the hype around it suggests. You just have to follow the instructions:

1. Soak in water until it expands to twice its size

2. Squeeze out all the water with your hand and then a towel and...

It's ready to use!

You can find so many tutorials on how to apply foundation, concealer or any other cream products with this baby. What you get with the beauty blender that I feel you don't get with any foundation brushes is that radiant, healthy glow that your skin should have, thus making the results more natural. I often feel that after applying foundation my skin feels dull and heavy, even with the lightest foundation, with the beauty blender you just feel like your skin is brand new and free of products.

Can you get the same results with other blending sponges? (like this one or this one) Perhaps you can, but everyone raves about the beauty blender when compared with other sponges that's why I decided to try it. Now that I made the investment and got great results I can try and find a dupe that satisfies me just as much, if I find it I'll tell you.

OMFG it's Chanel

I lost my freaking head and got this baby! I'm aware it's just a bronzer, I'm aware it's expensive, in fact I only bought it because I had a 20% off discount, I'm aware I can get the same effect with a thousand other products for 1/4 of the price, but.... In my defense, it's Chanel, it's so pretty, it smells so good, it's so pretty (again) and it has amazing reviews. 

Let's talk about this product, the description on the website says that 

"the velvety finish of this light cream-gel bronzer leaves your skin with a beautiful sun-kissed look. Wear it on its own to enhance your complexion, or for a hint of outdoors radiance, over or under your favorite CHANEL Foundation". 

It's a multifunctional product that you can use all over your face as a bronzing base for your make-up or that you can use as a bronzing/contouring cream. The color is universal, it works with pretty much every skin tone because it's super blendable.

Since it's a cream you should apply it with a buffing brush or a sponge. I decided to get this angled buffer brush from H&M and once again it was a good bet, the brush is really good and it cost only 7.99€. I still feel that I should get a beauty blender to apply this product just because it's so cute and pink, oh well...

Too soon?

Is it too soon for a christmas shopping list? It's never too soon if we're talking about the new collab between Mariah Carey and M.A.C, coming to U.S stores on Dec. 3. This is the first part of a full Mariah x MAC Beauty Icon collection coming in 2016. This champagne sparkling beauty must look so amazing with a smoky eye... Can't wait!

Craving...

This week my cravings are all about make up. I've been obsessing over beauty youtubers, especially Kathleenlights. She's really funny and her tutorials and reviews are really good, she has an amazing make up collection.

Here are some products that I will purchase in the following weeks, they have to be mine!!

1. MAKE UP FOR EVER Ultra HD Foundation - I heard some amaaazing reviews about this foundation and I've tryed it out and it does seem to be perfect. It's not as heavy as the normal HD and it's not matte, it's very natural. It's a big investement but it will last almost all winter since I'm not a foundation addict.

2. REAL TECHNIQUES Setting Brush, a great little brush to set your concealer with some powder.

3. ZOEVA 105 Luxe Highlight, I can't believe I still don't have this brush, it will blend my highlighter like heaven.

4. SEPHORA Blush in N.º2 - So Shy, the perfect nude pink natural blush for everyday.

5. M.A.C Powder Blush in Peony Petal, it's a bright blue pink blush that intrigues me, the color is so diferent and I hope that applied very lightly it will make the perfect romantic make up look.

6. L'ORÉAL Le Blush Accord Perfect in Terre de Sienne, a warmer pink for winter.

7. BOBBI BROWN  Shimmer Brick Compact in Rose, this product is so beautiful and you can wear it like a blush or a highlighter, it's a best seller and I can see why.

New in...

H&M recently launched a new Beauty line that looks amazing. The first time I saw it was at the VFNO but there were so many people surrounding the make up displays that I decided to choose a less busy day to explore all the products, despite all the confusion I managed to fall in love with these two eye shadows. 

Sunday I returned to the store and purchased the two eyeshadows I loved and a crease blending brush that is smaller and denser than the one I have from Zoeva, it's perfect to define the crease and the quality seems really good. The eyeshadows are as good as they are beautiful, the pigmentation is really rich and the texture is very creamy. The blushes look beautiful but I'm still traumatized by H&M powder products from the previous beauty line, they gave me the worst rash and I'm not prone to that, hopefully they changed the formula.

 HIGH IMPACT EYE COLOUR

Ginger Snap  /  Urban Jungle

Beauty cravings

I've never been a "beauty addict" but that has recently changed and I now found myself choosing a Uban Decay Naked palette (I bought the Naked3 and i'm in love) over shoes... Who would have thought?!

These are my beauty cravings, I expect to satisfie some of these cravings in the next weeks. The M.A.C "Snob" lipstick, the Nars illuminator and the Zoeva Brushes are a top priority, I hope to buy the last two items in my trip next month. Fingers crossed.

While the sun doesn't shine my skin tone is turning into one of the fifty shades of grey. I'm transforming into a "walker" (walking dead reference, sorry), to fight that I desperately need a good self tanning product and I think this Claring gel is a good option.

To continue the fight against the zombie look I will need a great illuminator and blush and these colors from Nars and M.A.C will give me a healthy/alive color. I'm especially curious to try out the Nars illuminator that you can also use as a blush, I've read great things about it and I think it will be my go-to product in the summer, for when you don't want to have all that heavy make-up on your face but you still want that amazing glow.

Clarins \ Gelée Auto-bronzante Express

M.A.C \ Mineralize Blush - Gentle

Sleek \ Face form - Light

Nars \ Illuminator - Laguna

I'm spending all this money on make-up and forgeting that for these products to work it's essencial to have good quality brushes, that's why I'm investing in these gorgeous ZOEVA professional brushes, a german brand that promises that their brushes are animal friendly and handmade. The reviews of their products are amazing and the prices as well, this set will cost you 65€ and we're talking about eight brushes. 

I'm loving my Chanel foundation but since I'm new to the "make-up thing" I want to try other foundations after this one runs out. The M.A.C Studio fix fluid and the NARS All day luminous will follow the Chanel Velvet Lumiére and I hope the experience is just as good. Finally I had to include a product that helps shape brows because only recently I've discovered the huge diference a shaped brow makes in a make-up look, it's jaw droping sometimes. The Brow zings from Benefit is one of the brow styling products out there but there are so many that i'm still undecided about wich to choose.

Zoeva \ Rose golden luxury set Vol.2

Benefit \ Brow zings - Medium

M.A.C \ Lipstick - Snob

Benefit \ Roller lash mascara

Nars \ All Day Luminous Weightless Foundation

M.A.C \ Studio fix fluid SPF 15 

Turn up the lights in here baby...

This product will most likely never leave my make-up bag now that I´ve discovered it.

I'm one of those people that never really understood the importance of having an illuminator and that most of the times tought that the glow that some of the celebrities had in the red carpet pictures was a result of having an amazing skin and sometimes photoshop. Well, both of there things are true but the it is also true that the use of a good illuminator makes wonders. I was looking for this type of product but never really felt that I found the one perfect for me, either they were too shiny or the base color was to pink or white and the glow wasn't didn't match my skin color. Again, I decided to consult the beauty blogs and see what was their favorite product to bring light to the face.

Aparently the MAC Mineralize Skinfish in the color "Soft and Gentle" is a sort of "god" in the illuminators world. It's almost always sold-out but I was lucky to find it and I gotta say it really is light in powder form and even though it's very pigmented and shiny the result is as soft and gentle as promissed.

It's alive!

Yes, this blog is very much alive but in the last few weeks inspiration is nowhere to be seen. The only thing captivating my interest is the "beauty department" that, after years of neglect, I'm trying to invest in, so my days are spent searching for reviews of products and accessories and I've discovered a whole new world of blogs and bloggers and a huge range of products and accessories that I never new existed. So forgive me for the absence but I've decided a long time a go that this wouldn't be a "Beauty" blog so I'm trying to decide if I should talk about all the new discoveries that I'm making. Do you think I should do it? The truth is my reviews of products wouldn't be very useful because, like I told you, I'm a beginner in this sort of thing, the only thing I can say is what made me choose some of the products that I've recently purchased and the research I made until I found them.

Lets see how this goes.

Until then fashion will not be forgotten, has if that was possible, especially since we're are coming down to Paris Fashion Week. I'll leave you with the highlight of Milan Fashion Week, the Dolce and Gabbana Fall 2015 RTW, an homage to all the mothers out there.

baby steps, baby steps...

Slowly but steady... cresce a minha vontade de investir em maquilhagem. Nunca fui de me preocupar com a qualidade dos produtos nem com a quantidade. Um blush, um rimel, uma base, um pó bronzeador e já estava... Agora a conversa é outra, não posso dizer que o nível de desejo se aproxime do que nutro por um par de sapatos mas já se vê qualquer coisa. Os meus critérios no momento da escolha dos produtos também revelam ainda alguma inexperiência, são um misto da ponderação preço, cor, aspecto da embalagem!!! (benefit aqui ganha muitos pontos) e pouco mais... 

Estou seriamente tentada em comprar o novo livro da Inês Franco para ver se começo a levar este assunto mais a sério. Nunca senti dificuldade nenhuma em maquilhar-me e alcançar o resultado desejado mas gostava de aperfeiçoar algumas técnicas por exemplo, a aplicação do iluminador e contorno do rosto. 

Estes são os produtos a que recorro na minha rotina diária. A mais recente descoberta foram as sombras da NAKED. Estou rendida... São os tons perfeitos para o dia-a-dia e são completamente matte, o que não é fácil encontrar. 

As próximas aquisições já estão pensadas, slowly but steady...

Palette NAKED Basics

Rimmel "They´re Real!" da Benefit

Kit "How to look your best - Light" da Benefit

Blush "Pink kiss"- Estée Lauder 

Base "affinitone - golden beige" da Maybelline

Pó bronzeador "Aruba" da Sephora

Batom Color Riche Collection Exclusive Pure Red Julianne Moore da L'Oréal

Batom KIKO 915

Batom hidratante CARMEX

Batom hidratante NEUTROGENA

Batom hidratante "Honey and Milk" LABELLO 

Batom "Chuby Stick - Pudgy Peony" da CLINIQUE 

Batom "Rouge Dior - 671 Deauville da DIOR

Batom "Styled in Sepia" da MAC

Batom "Blackberry" da Bobbi Brown

Kit "Go tropical Coral" da Benefit

Iluminador "What's up!" da Benefit

New in...

L'Oréal decidiu criar uma linha de batons vermelhos com diferentes tons, cada um corresponde a uma das caras da marca. O "Julianne Moore" tinha que ser meu! stalker alert

Um pequeno aparte!

Não vou dar grandes dicas de beleza porque na verdade não sou nenhuma expert mas esta posso dar, invistam neste pequeno porque eu quero fazê-lo. Quando falo invistam é mesmo investir porque não é barato mas realmente tem resultados óptimos. Não vos vou falar se a pele está mais luminosa ou lisa sei que em poucos dias noto uma diferença significativa. Obrigada Kiehl´s!

Tonight, tonight

Blazer - Zara Verão 2013
Camisa - Zara Verão 2014
Calções - Zara Inverno 2013
Mala - Uterque Verão 2014
Batom - Mac